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terhill's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
dynamicdylan's review
5.0
Another detail I want to mention about this series is that the anime is also very good, but it does end on a cliffhanger, hence why I started the manga. It's even better than the anime though because it gives a lot more details about what's going on at home while everyone's on the island. I just love this series so much. The manga-ka is also a graphic director for video games, so that's pretty awesome.
modernzorker's review
5.0
Note: This review covers the entire BTOOM! series, not only this volume. There are no spoilers.
My first impression upon reading the description of BTOOM! was, "Oh great, another Hunger Games/Battle Royale rip-off." The set-up is identical: a bunch of people, selected for reasons unknown to them, are sent to an island where they're meant to kill one another off until a winner emerges while the rest of the country/world watches the action on live-stream. Along the way, alliances are formed, enemies made, and as the survivor count dwindles, the days continue, and supplies begin to run low, paranoia sets in.
But BTOOM! somehow manages to overcome this "me too" syndrome and emerge as its own stand-alone story set in the modern world where ranked online gaming is basically a championship sport, and an entire generation of societal "drop-outs" (known as 'Neets', they're people who have decided to pour their energy into online interactions instead of in-person social activity) is changing Japan's cultural landscape.
BTOOM! is actually two games in one. The first BTOOM! is a massively-multiplayer online combat game set in a futuristic world where players adopt virtual avatars to deathmatch using weaponry called 'Bim'. Imagine Call of Duty or Halo, but where your main weapons are explosives with different types and usages. This is where our protagonist, Ryota Sakamoto, shines. As one of the ten highest-ranked BTOOM! players in the world, the 22-year old Ryota is a self-professed Neet who has turned his back on everyone (his job, his old school friends, his step-father, even his own mom) to maintain his skills and reputation as one of the best-of-the-best in this online world. He's even met Himiko, a female player who admires his skill, and the two have a puppy love cyber-relationship, even though they've never met in real life. As far as Ryota's concerned, this was the life he was always meant to live: a place where people all over the globe fear and revere him for his prowess.
As far as someone else was concerned though, this makes Ryota an ideal candidate for the other BTOOM!. The live-action, holy-shit-this-is-for-real game described in the first paragraph. Ryota's memories are hazy: last thing he remembered was playing BTOOM! on his Xbox 360, but now he's awake, dangling several feet up in the air from a parachute tangled in a tree, with a chip implanted in his hand and a container filled with real-life Bim. As the explosions start going off and he frantically tries to get his bearings, Ryota comes to the inescapable conclusion that not only is he playing BTOOM! for real, but other people on the island are as well.
BTOOM! is a solid, fast-paced action extravaganza with just enough to set it apart from other dystopian literature based around a similar premise. Like the best dystopian fiction, it uses an outlandish premise to reflect and offer commentary on current cultural, social, and political trends. "If you don't like what you see," mangaka Inoue tells us, "then start working to change things before they get to this point."
The manga offers some nicely-detailed back-story on all the participants, which unfold in flashback sequences explaining exactly who they are and what circumstances led to their inclusion in the game, and holds its story together very well over multiple volumes. Everything that happens is explained, though it may not be explained immediately. This is obvious from the first book, where Ryota stumbles across a series of bodies, including one in the process of being consumed by insects, and another guy who seemingly lost his pants, floating face-down in a lagoon. We eventually meet these people and learn how and why they met their fates, but only several chapters later. When Inoue shows us explosions off in the distance, or a quick flash of a combatant to whom we've not yet been introduced, you can trust everything will eventually be explained.
There's a minimal amount of fan service and light nudity in the books, but it's not anything over-the-top or even unrealistic, despite what the cover might lead one to believe. Even the violence is more subdued than what one might expect of a title where people are killing one another with miniature bombs. It's not a story for kids, but it's far less brutal than, say, the manga adaptation of 'Battle Royale', which, though awesome, relished its images of spilled intestines, gun-shot faces, and severed limbs a little too much in my opinion.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys social commentary with their dystopian future manga, BTOOM! is a great read from start to finish. Just when you think you know what's coming, Inoue hurls a wrench into the works and jerks you in a direction you couldn't have anticipated. What's more, when it looks like the end is in sight and our heroes will win the day, he throws the curve ball of all curve balls, splitting the main characters up and dropping them into an even worse scenario as the designers of the real-life BTOOM! work to fix the 'bugs' in their system and ramp up the mayhem to feverish levels to satisfy a blood-thirsty audience.
Go. Read. It. Now.
My first impression upon reading the description of BTOOM! was, "Oh great, another Hunger Games/Battle Royale rip-off." The set-up is identical: a bunch of people, selected for reasons unknown to them, are sent to an island where they're meant to kill one another off until a winner emerges while the rest of the country/world watches the action on live-stream. Along the way, alliances are formed, enemies made, and as the survivor count dwindles, the days continue, and supplies begin to run low, paranoia sets in.
But BTOOM! somehow manages to overcome this "me too" syndrome and emerge as its own stand-alone story set in the modern world where ranked online gaming is basically a championship sport, and an entire generation of societal "drop-outs" (known as 'Neets', they're people who have decided to pour their energy into online interactions instead of in-person social activity) is changing Japan's cultural landscape.
BTOOM! is actually two games in one. The first BTOOM! is a massively-multiplayer online combat game set in a futuristic world where players adopt virtual avatars to deathmatch using weaponry called 'Bim'. Imagine Call of Duty or Halo, but where your main weapons are explosives with different types and usages. This is where our protagonist, Ryota Sakamoto, shines. As one of the ten highest-ranked BTOOM! players in the world, the 22-year old Ryota is a self-professed Neet who has turned his back on everyone (his job, his old school friends, his step-father, even his own mom) to maintain his skills and reputation as one of the best-of-the-best in this online world. He's even met Himiko, a female player who admires his skill, and the two have a puppy love cyber-relationship, even though they've never met in real life. As far as Ryota's concerned, this was the life he was always meant to live: a place where people all over the globe fear and revere him for his prowess.
As far as someone else was concerned though, this makes Ryota an ideal candidate for the other BTOOM!. The live-action, holy-shit-this-is-for-real game described in the first paragraph. Ryota's memories are hazy: last thing he remembered was playing BTOOM! on his Xbox 360, but now he's awake, dangling several feet up in the air from a parachute tangled in a tree, with a chip implanted in his hand and a container filled with real-life Bim. As the explosions start going off and he frantically tries to get his bearings, Ryota comes to the inescapable conclusion that not only is he playing BTOOM! for real, but other people on the island are as well.
BTOOM! is a solid, fast-paced action extravaganza with just enough to set it apart from other dystopian literature based around a similar premise. Like the best dystopian fiction, it uses an outlandish premise to reflect and offer commentary on current cultural, social, and political trends. "If you don't like what you see," mangaka Inoue tells us, "then start working to change things before they get to this point."
The manga offers some nicely-detailed back-story on all the participants, which unfold in flashback sequences explaining exactly who they are and what circumstances led to their inclusion in the game, and holds its story together very well over multiple volumes. Everything that happens is explained, though it may not be explained immediately. This is obvious from the first book, where Ryota stumbles across a series of bodies, including one in the process of being consumed by insects, and another guy who seemingly lost his pants, floating face-down in a lagoon. We eventually meet these people and learn how and why they met their fates, but only several chapters later. When Inoue shows us explosions off in the distance, or a quick flash of a combatant to whom we've not yet been introduced, you can trust everything will eventually be explained.
There's a minimal amount of fan service and light nudity in the books, but it's not anything over-the-top or even unrealistic, despite what the cover might lead one to believe. Even the violence is more subdued than what one might expect of a title where people are killing one another with miniature bombs. It's not a story for kids, but it's far less brutal than, say, the manga adaptation of 'Battle Royale', which, though awesome, relished its images of spilled intestines, gun-shot faces, and severed limbs a little too much in my opinion.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys social commentary with their dystopian future manga, BTOOM! is a great read from start to finish. Just when you think you know what's coming, Inoue hurls a wrench into the works and jerks you in a direction you couldn't have anticipated. What's more, when it looks like the end is in sight and our heroes will win the day, he throws the curve ball of all curve balls, splitting the main characters up and dropping them into an even worse scenario as the designers of the real-life BTOOM! work to fix the 'bugs' in their system and ramp up the mayhem to feverish levels to satisfy a blood-thirsty audience.
Go. Read. It. Now.
rataviolenta's review
3.0
Love Taira, I always loved him. The only thing that always piss me off when I reread this series, is the fact that the mangaka only uses girls to obviously ecchi and male consumption, it’s kinda disgusting but well…
shannonleighd's review
1.0
Battle Royale ... but with bombs!
🌴💥💀
And also ... less interesting characters!
🌴💥💀
And also ... less interesting characters!
vik88's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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